लल्ला पुराण २४

मित्रों, उपरोक्त पोस्ट एक घटना की भूमिका के रूप में शुरू हुई थी, किन्तु कभी कभी भूमिका (या फूट नोट भी) ही एक्स्ट बन जाती है. उपरोक्त पोस्ट का निहितार्थ आप विद्वत-जनों को जातिवाद और उससे जुड़े पूर्वाग्रहों-दुराग्रहों पर विमर्श के लिए उकसाना था. अजीब बात हैं हम शिक्षित लोग यह तो मानते हैं कि देश की राजनीति और समाज को जो दीमक चाट रहे हैं, उनमें जातिवाद (और उससे जुड़े पूर्वाग्रह-दुराग्रह; रीति-रिवाज ..) भी प्रमुख है, फिर भी हम इस पर बात करने से ऐसे कतराते कि “लहू-लुहान नज़ारों की जब बात चली, शरीफ लोग उठे दूर जाकर बैठ गए.” १९९० में, जब मंडल विरोधी उन्माद चरम पर था. आम स्थितियों में विद्यार्थियों को पुस्तकों तक सीमित रहने की सलाह देने वाले. “जाति-पांत से ऊपर उठ चुके” तमाम प्रोफेसरों ने एक-बैग द्रोणाचार्य का रूप धारण कर, अर्जुनों को एकलव्यों की अनुपस्थित सेना के विरुद्ध, गांडीव उठाने को ललकार रहे थे. डूटा(दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय शिक्षक संघ) की एक ऐतिहासिक आम सभा में, आरक्षण से ब्रह्माण्ड डावांडोल हो जाने की आशंका से द्रोणाचार्यों का एक समूह इतने जोश एवं आवेश में आ गया कि बे “जैश्रीराम..” और “जिस हिन्दू का खून न खौला  ....” lunge power प्रतियोगिता में हम भी पीछे नहीं रहते. हम भी “मनुवाद मुर्दाबाद/ ब्राहणवाद हो बर्बाद.....” किस्म के नारे लगा रहे थे. सभा के बाद काफी पीटे हुए, सोने की सीकड़ से सुसज्जित एक सज्जन (प्रोफ़ेसर) आकर बगल में बैठ गए और पूँछा, “What is your name, by the way?”. मैंने कहा, “Not by the way, my name is Ish Mishra”. …. ”Mishras are Brahmins, I believe!”. .. “You are absolutely right.” .. But you were shouting slogans like  Manuvaad and all that..” मैं उनकी क्लास लेने में समय नहीं बर्बाद करना कहता था, इसलिए इतना ही कहा, “क्यों कोई पाबंदी है?”

Lalla Puran 23

Friends, I wish to share one of the 'eternal' questions I am confronted with, ever since I expressed my ruthless critique of Hindu Caste order.i.e. Brahmanical order is why do I use suffix, Mishra, in my name, Ish Mishra, which for me has become a single proper noun without suffix and prefix, when IO don't believe in Varnashram? By implication, the questioner, educated at the Oxford of the east, has guts to publicly own and condone, the worst kind of feudalism -the Varnashram feudalism. Any way this question has 2 presumptions: Either my loud ant-Manuvadi proclamations are sham or despite I subtly take pride in the identity derived from a biological accident, which I have no contribution to or conspiracy in. Therefore no one should feel proud or ashamed for wherever one is born. What is important is, irrespective of biological coincidence, how you comprehend the history with the help of experience, reason, conscience and empathy(SAMANBHUTI). My understanding of Varnashram or Brahmanism or Hindu caste order is not result of just the bookish knowledge and my romantic quest for equality but also based on participatory, empirical observation, though from the side of the privileged of the divide in my childhood and youth. I always had problem in telling/writing father's occupation and would hesitantly say farmer, though he himself never worked in the field. Effectively, that category of people, belonged to the class of gainfully unemployed.

लल्ला पुराण २२.

माफी मांगना शर्म की नहीं गर्व की बात है. अनजाने में किसी से भी कुछ गलती हो सकती है(जानबूझकर अपराध होता है). हम सब साधारण इंसान हैं, असाधारण दिखने की कितनी भी कोशिशों के बावजूद. गलती छोटी-बड़ी जैसी भी हो, जब भी महसूस हो, उसपर अफ़सोस करना और इसका प्रभाव किसी और पर पड़े तो उससे माफी मांगना; गलती बड़ी हो तो शर्मसार महसूस करना वांछनीय  है. शर्म एक क्रांतिकारी एहसास है. जो लोग खुद को सर्वज्ञ या सर्व-गुण संपन्न मान कर गलती मानने से इंकार करते हैं उनके व्यक्तित्व का विकास जड़ता और कुंठा का शिकार हो जाता है. और शिक्षक को मिसाल से पढ़ाना होता है. I have said elsewhere, one has to ruthlessly stand guard against oneself. मैं क्रोध को स्वाभाविक बताकर बात ताल सकता था. लेकिन आप सही हैं, यही जरूरी नहीं है, सही दिखना भी चाहिए. आवेश और परिणामस्वरूप भाषा के तल्ख़ तेवर से सफ़ेद दाढ़ी वाले शिक्षकों को बचना चाहिए. इस विषय पर कई रोचक कहानियाँ हैं, फिर कभी. कहीं से दबी-छुपी आवाज मुझसे मुक्ति पाने की भी आयी. उस पर कई रोचक कहानियाँ हैं वे भी फिर कभी.

लल्ला पुराण २१

Amitabh Singh, Everyone, is responsible for one's one feelings, what can I do?. Ish Mishra is my identity word since childhood, and am known to few people across the country and the world. It is beautiful name. Why you have problem with my surname, I do not need to hide where I was born. I will answer your this question along with your other pending questions. for now this much and then I will narrate couplec of stories.  All the religions, owing to their irrational basis of faith, are regressive by definition. Hinduism is most regressive, as other religions allow at least theoretical possibility of equality(Every one is equal before God, though not among themselves), Hinduism does not allow even theoretical possibility of equality. One is born unequal and is irreparable as it is God's creation.  It does not allow to transcend the identity of a biological accident. 

लल्ला पुराण २०

मैं एक अधार्मिक (धर्म-वरोधी) व्यक्ति हूँ क्योंकि धर्म वर्चस्वशाली वर्गों के हाथ में वर्चस्व कायम रखने का सबसे प्रभावी हथियार है. किशोरावस्था से ही इन अर्थों में मैं एक आनुशासन हीं व्यक्ति हूँ क्योंकि संस्कारगत कुतार्किक मर्यादाओं का उल्लंघन करता रहा हूँ. १८ साल की उम्र में पिताजी के आनुशासन से मुक्ति के लिए (हर किसान बाप का सपना बेटे को अफसर बनने का होता था) उनसे आर्थिक-सम्बन्ध समाप्त कर दिया. धर्म क्या है? 'आश्रम' की व्यवस्था 'वर्ण' से जुडी है और इसे मैं अमानवीय इन अर्थों में मानता हूँ कि जब मष्तिष्क के विकास की अवस्था सबसे तीब्र होती है तब हम उसे चिंतन-और निर्णय के अधिकार से वंचित करते हैं और जिन अर्थों में इसका प्रतिपादन हुआ था उन अर्थों में ब्रह्मचर्य का मतलब का मतलब दिमाग बंद करकर पाठशालाओं में सदियों के पुराने ज्ञान-अज्ञान का जाप होता था जिसके परिणाम स्वरुप उर्वर युवा मष्तिष्क को कुंद और बंजर बनाया जाता था. हजार साल से अधिक की बौद्धिक और भौतिक जड़ता इसका प्रमाण है. कौटिल्य से बरनी के बीच के लंबे दौर में किसी राजनैतिक चिन्तक का नाम बताएं या कालिदास के बाद किसी मौलिक विद्वान का? वर्णाश्रम और मर्दवाद जैसी अमानवीय व्यवस्थाओं को शास्त्रीय आधार प्रदान करने वाली मनुस्मृति के बाद के धर्म-शास्त्र के किसी मौलिक ग्रन्थ का नाम बताएं? महाभारत और मनुस्मृति  में बतायी आचार-संहिता एवं राज्य व्यवस्था एक सी ही हैं किसने किससे कापी पेस्ट किया नहीं मालुम. मध्य काल में शुक्राचार्य और कमांडक के ग्रन्थ लगभग कौटल्य के अर्थ शास्त्र की पुनरावृत्ति मात्र हैं. गृहस्थावस्था में कुटुंब को आर्थिक आधार देने के बाद जीवन की सुख-सुविधाओं से वंचित, संन्यास धारण करने के बाद भी निष्काम भाव से काम करते हुए समाज में रहने की व्यवस्था और वृद्धावस्था में जब सेवा-सुश्रुषा की आवश्यकता हो तो घर से निकाल कर उसे जंगल में भटकते हुए 'भवान-भरोसे' छोड़ दीजिए.(विभास जी आप अपने ८४ वर्षीय युवा पिताजी को निकाल दीजिए घर से, वान्य्प्रस्थ की तर्ज पर परित्यक्त  बुजुर्गों के लिए वृद्धाश्रम हैं) शस्त्र-शास्त्र पर अधिकार समाज के नगण्य अल्पसंख्यक समूह का एकाधिकार स्थापित करके समाज को इतना कमजोर बना दीजिए कि नादिरशाह जैसा ओई चरवाहा पेशावर से दिल्ली तक रौंदता चला आता है और लूटते-उजाड़ते शकुन से वापस चला जाता है, क्या कर रहे होते थे देश के सारे शूर-वीर? पारिवार और शिक्षण संस्थाएं हमें ज्ञान के अन्वेषण के लिए नहीं प्रोत्साहित नहीं करतीं बल्कि कोल्हू के बैल की तरह घिसी-पीती पारंपरिक मान्यताओं का अनुशरण करने की दीक्षा देती हैं. अगर शिक्षण संस्थाएं ज्ञान का श्रोत होतीं यदि होतीं तो ज्ञानी गण, जो अफसर बनने तक तमाम लड़कियों पर लाइन मारने के बाव्जोद एक भी लड़की नहीं "पटा" अफसर बनते ही संविधान की सपथ लेकर, दहेज के रूप में अपना मोल-भाव करके किसी को पत्नी बनाने के लिए मोटा दहेज लेकर संविधान उल्लंघन से अपना शासकीय जीवन शुरू करते हैं.अपवाद नियमों की पुष्टि ही करते हैं. यह तर्क कि माँ-बाप ने दहेज लिया हमने नहीं, मूर्खतापूर्ण है. जब आप अपने विवाह का फैसला नहीं ले सकते तो देश किसके आदेश पर चलाएंगे? अभी पुस्तकालय निकालना है इस लिए यहीं बंद करता हूँ, अंतिम बात के साथ कि मैं अपने स्टुडेंट्स को बताता हूँ कि ये संस्थाएं ज्ञान के प्रसार के लिए नहीं हैं न ही आप ज्ञान प्राप्त करने आते हैं. ये संस्थाएं आपको ऐसी जानकारियों और हुनर से लैस करती हैं जो यथा-स्थिति के लिए आवश्यक हैं. ज्ञानार्जन भी करना है तो उसके लिए अलग से प्रयास करना पडेगा. जीवन भर भौतिक शास्त्र पढ़ने-पढाने के बावजूद तीन फीट लंबा त्रिपुंड लगाकरज्योतिषी की सलाह पर, प्रधानमंत्री बनने के लिए  बाल्टी-बाबा जैसे पाखंडी से  ६ टांग के बकरे की तलाश को आप क्या कहेंगे. ऐसे लोगों के लिए भौतिक शास्त्र के नियम परीक्षा के लिए होते हैं जीवन में प्रयोग के लिए नहीं. आग्रह है कि मेरी बातों की धज्जियां उडाएं. इति.

लल्ला पुराण १९

Virendra Pratap Singh, Sir! I will deal with your specific question on "I", here I am quoting here, the beginning and few more sentences from what was a term paper for my M Phil course, "The Concept of Man in Political Theory", which was published as chapter in an edited book: "Why should a man ask the question what he is? But it has been the recurring theme of philosophical concern. On occasions, when society was stable and politics quite, they answered it with a flair of finality .............. But this finality was questioned, doubted and replaced by new ones that appeared adequate for the new age. ........ Philosophy appeared to Hegel as the story of self recognition; man's attempt to know what man is. To define him in terms of constants is an insult because he could have become more than what he is".

Now coming to the facts of our common knowledge, you know that I came to Delhi almost with nothing in 1976 at the age of 21 to live underground and reached JNU sand joined it after emergency. You must have noticed during your visits to JNU for your interviews etc that when I was doing my MA in Political Science, I was also the financial guardian of my younger brother whom I had got admitted in a 5 years MA course in French. Had i not needed to spend my afternoons and evenings(no regret all these experiences are my strength) in travelling in DTC buses and teaching mathematics that would not add any thing tonmy knowledge to moneyed children of South Delhi's posh colonies, I would have spent that time in and around library, in romance, in theater, ........ But one has to confront the situations as they come to you.

Sir! You also know that when I was doing my research in Political Science in JNU WITH A UGC FELLOWSHIP, I was teaching mathematics to XI/XII classes at DPS, RK PURAM, New DElhi. As I decided to confront all the kinsmen for the education of my sister whom they were planning to get married off at 15, got her admitted in Vanasthali Viduyapeeth in Rajasthan from where she did her MA and B.Ed and is presently a school teacher in a good school in Delhi. That time I was into full time activism in 4 things -- teacher-student-AVARA-activist.

लल्ला पुराण १८

In a FB group of Alumni of Allahabad University, one member wrote a post complaining about majority of discussions being pro-women and not pro-men. He probably meant Woman's Question and not pro-men by which perhaps he meant Man's Question. There is nothing like Man's Question as the man is not discriminated against or subjugated  and dominated but is perpetrator. 

 In1987. I presented a paper,  "Women's Question in Communal Ideologies: A Study into the Ideologies of RSS and Jamat-e-Islami" in an international seminar at India International Centre New Delhi on 'Religion, Law and Gender' that coincidentally got  published in an internationally read Internation journal.  (Owing to the lack of intellectual self-belief that is, inadvertently but systematically instilled into us since our birth through our socialization, very reluctantly I had sent to it), Most of the communications I recieved, were adresses "Dear Ms Mishra", First sentence of my freply was, "Incidently,  I am a man......" What I mean to say if talking about equality band rationality becomes pro-woman, how can one help? When ever one talks against Hindu communalism one is branded as pro-Muslim and vice-versa, When ever I raise the issue of atrocities on Adivasis people start asking me account of Naxal "brutality". The woman's issue that simply means sexual discrimination and subjugation of women and their emancipation as full fledged individuals with rights to autonomy, freedom, equality and freedom of choice in all the spheres of life including dress and sexual orientation. This not being pro-woman but being " a rational human being with empathy (not sympathy) for a fellow human being of different sex, including the Third Sex. What you say is being pro-woman, is, in fact, being pro-humanity. 

लल्ला पुराण १७ Dialectics

The law of dialectics is continuous, evolutionary, quantitative changes maturing into revolutionary qualitative changes, but the changes do not take place on their own(Newton's Law) unless acted upon by external force of conscious human effort. product of changed material conditions. Consciousnesses is product of material conditions and changed consciousness is product of changed material conditions.  Who changes the the material conditions? The conscious human effort.Thus the reality is dialectical unity of material conditions and capaciousness with reciprocal cause- effect rrelatonship. Some times as in our case (India) the pace of of change had been infinitely slow (limit n tending to zero) that changes remained almost invisible owing to very low intensity of external  forces of conscious  human effort and high intensity of internal resistance of the hegemony of the status quo, resulting into almost stagnation in terms of both - intellectual as well as material progress. I tell my female students that you are lucky to be born a couple of generation later, but the freedom and rights you are enjoying is result of the protracted struggles of the previous generations. Those who vehemently say that nothing would change, I tell them the most visible manifestation of evolutionary, quantitative changes is in the big leaps forward in the realms of Dalit scholarship and assertion and feminist scholarship and assertion, though no where near emancipation. To day no father can publicly say that he differentiates between son and daughter, notwithstanding the fact he would go on producing 2/3/4/.. daughters to have a KULDEEPAK(son), I have said in one of my least debated posts, that if a boy is 3rd/4th/5th.. issue of his parents in 99.99999..% cases all the other siblings are girls. This is, what I  call, theoretical victory of feminism and its practical realization is matter of time. Similarly the casteists of highest order don't dare to say that they believe in cast discrimination from a public platform. ( In our time in AU, number of dalit students was very small and there was separate hostel for Dalits and GN Jha hostel had a "d" block outside the main building for "distinguished" students with a separate mess.) Today no one can dare to say that Dalits should have a separate mess. This is theoretical victory of anti-casteism. In one of my again, least debated posts I had mentioned about an experience of one-v/s all debate on the question of girls eloping with their boyfriends, and when confronted with the question, if I would marry my daughter to a Dalit(name of the caste) and when I retorted back that I am myself a dalit (name of the caste), it sent through them a cultural shock. Similarly if a girl/woman does "un-womanly" act or says things which "women are not supposed to" gives cultural shocks to Mardvaad , particularly to the MCPs. I exhort my dalit and female friends for the need of continous cultural shocks in order to transform the quantitative changes into qualitative ones. Good morning to every on with a cup of tea at lalla's.

लल्ला पुराण १६: अनुशासन

Raju Jaihind जी, मौजूदा चुनावी वामपंथी पार्टियों का चरित्र, अन्य पार्टियों से गुणात्मक रूप से भिन्न नहीं है. समस्या का हल है, जनचेतना जो फिलहाल खुद भ्रष्ट है. पढ़े लिखे लोग यदि जाति और धर्म के आधार पर आपराधिक प्रवृत्ति के नेताओं के आगे पीछे घूमेंगे तो क्या होगा. एक बार एक चीनी  गौहाटी-दिल्ली यात्रा में सहयात्री था. बात-चीत में उसने एक टिप्पणी किया कि चीन में भ्रष्टाचार प्रशासन के उच्च तप्कों में है लेकिन हिन्दुस्तान में मानसिक रूप से  हर कोई भ्रष्ट है. इस मंच पर ही देखिये, ज़रा सी असुविधाजनक बात कह दीजिए सब बौखला जाते हैं. मैंने कह दिया कि चरण स्पर्श अभिवादन का सामंती तरीका है या हमारी तथाकथित सामाजिक मर्यादा, वर्णाश्रमी-मर्दवादी सामंती मर्यादा है, लोग मुझ पर पश्चिम-परस्ती का आरोप लगाने लगे. लड़कियों की परिधान की आज़ादी या चुनाव की आजादी की हिमायत को भारतीय गौरवशाली परम्पराओं का अपमान बताया जाने लगता है. बदलाव के लिए आवश्यक है सोच में बदलाव. जी हां मैं दकियानूसी भारतीय परम्पराओं का घोर विरोधी हूँ, जिसकी शुरुआत मैंने १३-१४ साल की उम्र में जनेऊ तोड़ कर कर दी थी. मेरी किसी पोस्ट पर किसी ने आनुशासन की बात की, अनुशासन क्या है? यथास्थिति के मूल्यों, मर्यादाओं का वफादारी से पालन; बाप की आज्ञा बिना सवाल किये मानना (राम और परशुराम के मिथकीय चरित्र इसके ज्वलंत उदाहरण है, एक बाप की ऐय्याशी के लिए बन-बन भटक कर एक लड़की के नाक कान काटने या छिप कर कायराना ढंग से बेवजह ह्त्या करने समेत  तमाम अमानवीय हरकतेन् करता है, दूसरा बाप के आदेश से अपनी जननी की ह्त्या) अनुशासन है, मैंने बाप की अफसर बनने के प्रयास की आज्ञा न मानाने के लिए, १८ वर्ष की उम्र से पैसा लेना बंद कर दिया, क्योंकि अर्थ ही मूल है, यदि विचारों से स्वतंत्र होना चाहते हैं तो आर्थिक आत्म-निर्भरता आवश्यक है. मैं तो समाज के हिसाब से बचपन से ही अनुशासनहीन रहा हूँ और मुझे अपनी अनुशासनहीनता पर गर्व है. मैं अपनी मर्यादा और आनुशासन के मानदण्ड मानवीय मूल्यों एवं विवेक के आधार पर स्वयं तय करता हूँ और अपने सिद्धांतों की परिक्षा अपने ऊपर लागू होने से शुरू होती है. मैं दो बेटियों का फक्र्मंद  बाप हूँ जो बिना नियंत्रण और तथाकथित आनुशासन के बेहतरीन इंसान बन रही हैं. therefore my dear friend, no individual or party can bring about any qualitative change without changing the stereotyped mind set bu replacing acquired moralities by rational ones.

लल्ला पुराण 15

क्रान्ति कारियों की श्रद्धाजंलि उनके दैवीकरण से देना उनका अपमान है उन्हें सही श्रद्धांजलिउनके विचारों को आत्मसात करके उनके पदचिन्हों पर चलते हुए उनके सपनों को साकार करने में योगदान देना है. कृपया उनके विचारों को पढ़ें. चंद्रशेखर आज़ाद भगत सिंह, भगवतीचरण वोहरा, शिव वर्मा आदि के लेखन को जब तक समझ कर संस्तितुती नहीं करते थे तब तक कोई भी दस्तावेज सार्वजनिक नहीं होता था. मैंने पहले भी कहा है कि जनेऊ वाली उनकी तस्वीर छद्म वेश में कीर्तन मंडली के साथ लाहोर से निकलने के लिए थी. हिन्दुस्तान सोसलिस्ट रिपब्लिकन आर्मी का घोषणापत्र और बाकी दस्तावेज ब्राह्मणवाद और हर तरह के पोंगापंथ के विरुद्ध हैं. इस मुल्क में बिना कुछ पढ़े निर्णायक राय देने की पुरानी पोंगापंर्थी परंपरा रही है. बुद्ध के विचार जो ब्राह्मणवादी कर्मकांड के विरुद्ध थे उनकी काट में असमर्थ ब्राह्मणों ने चतुर-चालाकी दिखाते हुए बुद्ध को किसी कालपनिक विष्णु का अवतार घोषत कर दिया. उसी तरह भगत सिंह और उनके साथियों के विचारों को पढ़े समझे बिना यहाँ तक कि फासीवादी सांप्रदायिक ताकतों ने भी उन्हें अपना नायक बना लिया, विचारों से न् लड़ सको तो उन्हें विकृत कर दो. ये क्रान्तिकार समाजवाद की स्थापना करना चाहते थे. भगत सिंह का सबसे महत्वपूर्ण लेख, "मैं नास्तिक क्यों हूँ" में धार्मिक बेहूदगियों की बखिया उधेड़ी गयी है लेकिन एक तरफ फासीवादी अकाली उन्हें अपना नायक बनने की कोशिस करते हैं दूसरी तरफ संघी. विचारों न् लड़ सको तो विचारक को मार दो. इश्वर को नकारने में भगत सिंह के तर्क वोल्ताय्रर से मिलते हैं. कृपया फांसी के पहले भगत सिंह की ग्रंथी को फटकार पढ़ लें. जो उन्हें अंतिम समय में गुरुग्रंथ साहब पर माथा नवाने की सलाह देने आया था. मणि नास्तिक क्यों हूँ गुजारिश है अपनी भक्ति भाव के चलते क्रांतिकारियों का अपमान न् करें. यदि आप जाति-धर्म से ऊपर उठे बिना क्रांतिकारियों को नमन करते हैं तो यह उनला अपमान है.क्रांतिकारी चन्द्र शेखर आज़ाद को लाल सलाम. इन्किलाब जिंदाबाद.

लल्ला पुराण १४

मित्रों, मैं शहीद चंद्र शेखर के जीवन पर वाद-विवाद नहीं करना चाहता. मेरी  उनके छात्र जीवन की संस्था की  जानकारी १९७५ में नैनी जेल में एह.आर.ए. और एह.एस.आर.ए. दोनों में सक्रिय रहे सिव वर्मा से बातचीत पर आधारित है जिन्होंने बताया था कि आज़ाद को गिरफ्तारी के समय बनारस में रहते २-३ साल हो गए थे और काशी विद्यापीठ की स्थापना १९२१ में हुई थी, संभव है कि उस समय आज़ाद काशी विद्यापीठ के छत्र रहे हों, मेरे अज्ञान को दुरुस्त करने के लिए धन्यवाद. असहयोग आंदोलन के वापस लेने बाद क्रांतिकारियों की एक अखिल भारतीय पार्टी के गठन की बुनियाद सचीन्द्र्नाथ सान्याल ने १९२३ के अंत में  एह.आर.ए. के गठन से डाली, आज़ाद पार्टी के सबसे कम उम्र के सदस्य थे."उन्होंने पार्टी का संविधान भी तैयार किया जो पीले कागज़ पर छपा था इसी लिए वह  पीला पर्चा के नाम से मशहूर है. एक और महत्वपूर्ण दस्तावेज उन्होंने तैयार किया था हिन्दुस्तान प्रजातंत्र संघ(HRA)का g घोषणा पत्र जिसका शीर्षक था The revolutionary. यह दस्तावेज १ जनवरी १९२५ की रात में पूरे उत्तर भारत में बांटा गया.१९१७ की अक्टूबर क्रान्ति से प्रभावित होकर भारतीय क्रांतिकारियों के उद्देश्य का ऐलान नीचे लिखे शब्दों में किया गया था. "राजनीति के क्षेत्र में  क्रांतिकारी पार्टी का तात्कालिक उद्देश्य संगठित सहस्त्र क्रान्ति द्वारा एक Federal Republic of united States of India स्ताहाप्त करना है ........... इस गणतंत्र का मूलभूत सिद्धांत ............शोषण पर आधारित ऐसी समस्त व्यवस्थाओं की समाप्ति पर आधारित होगा जो मनुष्य द्वारा मनुष्य के शोषण को संभव बनाती है..........यह क्रान्तिकारी पार्टी इन अर्थों में राष्ट्रीय न् होकर अन्तर्राष्ट्रीय है कि इसका अंतिम उद्देश्य विश्व में मेल और सामंजस्य स्थापित करना है..."........... घोषणा पत्र का दृष्टिकोण निश्चित रूप से अतीत का दामन छोड़कर समाजवाद का और  सोविएत को "विजयी समाजवाद का पहला देश" कह कर स्वागत करता है..........." [जगमोहन सिंह और चमनलाल द्वारा संपादित राजकमल प्रकाशन द्वारा १९८७ में प्रकाशित, 'भगत सिंह और उनके साथियों के दस्तावेज'] लाल झंडा  और शहीदों के लिए लाल सलाम की शुरुआत उनीसवी शताब्दी में शिकागो में ८ घंटे काम के अधिकार के लिए मजदूरों के आंदोलन में शहीदों की खून से रंगी कमीज को झंडा बनाकर जुलूस निकालने से हुई, तब तक किसी देश में कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी नहीं बनी थी. मलेरिया की कमजोरी  वजह से अधिक टाइप करना संभव नहीं है कृपया इस पुस्तक में क्रांतिकारियों की बातें फर्स्ट हैंड पढ़ लें. कई लोगों का समतावादी विचारों के प्रति दुराग्रह इतना तीव्र है कि लाल शब्द से बौखला जाते हैं.शःहेदों को लाल सलाम से सम्मान और इन्किलाब जिंदाबाद नारे की शुरुआत भगत सिंह ने किया था. आज़ाद को लाल सलाम कहना उनका क्रान्तिकारी अभिवादन और सम्मान करना है. कृपया दुराग्रही संकीर्णता से उबरने का प्रयास करें. चंद्र शेखर आज़ाद जिंदाबाद
शहीद चंद्रशेखर आज़ाद को लाल सलाम.

लल्ला पुराण ११

@राजू जी, मलेरिया का ३-४ दिन का समय होता है, ठीक हो जाएगा. दिन में थोड़ा सो लिया था बहुत देर से सोने की नाकाम कोशिस के बाद और लिखने-पढ़ने की मनःस्थिति न् बन पाने के कारण फेसबुक खोल लिया और यह पेज खुल गया.नास्तिक तो मैं इलाहाबाद पहुँचने के पहले ही बन गया था, कट्टर धार्मिक संस्कारों और पाखंडों  पर सवाल करते करते. सबसे पहले तो भूत का भय खत्म हुआ और फिर भगवान का. १. मेरे पिताजी बिच्छू का 'मन्त्र' जानते थे और काफी सफल थे. मुझे याद नहीं कितना बड़ा था लेकिन  ९ साल से हर हालात में छोटा. पीड़ित का हाथ या पैर मिट्टी या राख पर खींची एक रेखा पर रखवा कर कुछ लिखता और फिर अपने हाथ पर और कुछ मं ही मं पढते हुए ३ बार टाली बजाते और ५-६ बार यह प्रक्रया करने से पीड़ित को राहत मिलती. एक बकर वे घर पर नहीं थे और कोई  बुलाने आया, मैंने कहा मुझे आता है मन्त्र, मैं गया और दर्द से लोट-पोत होती कन्या की बिच्छू की पीड़ा उतर गयी. रात-ओ-रात मैं इतना मशहूर हो गया कि अस-पास के गाँव में भी किसी को बिच्छू मरता तो वे मुझे सोते में गोद में उठा कर ले जाते और फायदा होता. मेरे पिताजी ने कभी नहीं पूछा कि तुम्हे किसने मन्त्र बताया? दीवाली को हम-उम्र लड़के मेरी जासूस करते कि मैं मन्त्र जगाता होऊंगा. मुझे कोई मन्त्र आता तब तो जगाता. छाथी-सावीं कक्षा तक मैं ऊब गया थ बिच्छू झाड़ते झाड़ते और बोल दिया मन्त्र तंत्र मुझे कुछ नहीं आता तबसे मेरे मन्त्र का असर समाप्त हो गया. तभी लग गया सभी मन्त्र तंत्र का  मनोवैज्ञानिक असर होता है और सारे तांत्रिक फरेबी होते हैं. २. कल मेरे गाँव का एक व्यक्ति आया था जो उम्र में मुझसे बड़ा किन्तु प्राइमरी में १-२ छलांग के चलते क्लास में एक साल पीछे था. हम लोग उस समय की चर्चा कर रहे थे मैं सातवी में अपने गाँव का अकेला था आठवी में कोई नहीं और छठीं में ४ लड़के थे. मिडिल स्कोल ७-८ किलोमीटर दूर था. २ ठाकुर लड़के थे एक यादव और एक धोबी. सामंती वर्णाश्रमी माहौल था. मैं दुबला-पतला था और बाकी लड़के मुझसे लंबे-चौड़े. यादव और धोबी मेरा बस्ता धोते थे काफी दूर तक. एक दिन भगवती  धोबी (आजकल अकबरपुर में ब्लाक कर्मचारी है) ने पहले पड़ाव पर कहा अब मैं अपना बस्ता खुद ले चलूँ कुछ देर मुझे गुसा आ गया और मैंने उसे मारने के लिए बेल्ट निकाल लिया और उसने मेरा हाथ पकड़ लिया. मैं अपमानित महसूस कर रोते हुए घर चला गया और मरे दादाजी ओ अपने क्रोध के लिए मसहूर थे, बिना पूरी बात सुने धोबियों की बस्ती में हंगामा मचाकर आ गए और पहली बार मेरे अंदर  जाति-आधारित श्रेष्ठता पर उथल-पुथल मची और जाती-पांत की व्यवस्था पर सवाल करने और अपने अंदर के ब्राह्मण को खत्म करने का सील-सिला शुरू हुआ जो शहर जाकर  हाई स्कूल तक पहुँचते-पहुँचते पूरा हो गया और उससे पहले ही मैं जनेऊ तोड़ चुका था. (बाकी बाद में). 

लल्ला पुराण १०

 अतीत-आत्मावलोकन से लगता है कि मैं बचपन से ही एक चिंतनशील बालक था और मेरे पहले और बाद के दसेक सालों तक अपने गाँव का विश्वविद्यालय में दाखिला लेने वाला मैं एकमात्र बालक(बालिकाओं का प्रश्न ही नहीं उठता) था. तफरीह में गणित विभाग में सहसचिव का चुनाव लड़ गया, १०-२० निजी मित्रों ने कहाँ से और कैसे पोस्टरों और हैन्द्बिल्स का प्रबंध किया, जिसके विस्तार का अवसर यहाँ नहीएँ है, और मुझे ७५% से अधिक वोट मिल गए. उस समय छात्रसंघ का सेक्रेटरी परिषद का ब्रजेश कुमार था(जो कल्याण सिंह के पहले मंत्रालय में परिवहन मंत्री बना) उसने मुझे सम्मान से चाय के लिए आमंत्रित किया और विश्वविद्यालय चौराहे पर ठाकुर की पान की दूकान के ऊपर परिषद के दफ्तर ले गया, १७ साल के बालक को भगत सिंह, लक्ष्मी बाई भारतमाता आदि की तस्वीरों ने प्रभावित किया. मुझे संविधान दिया गया जिसमें लिखा थ कि परिषद एक, स्वतंत्र, जनतांत्रिक छात्र संगठन है. संघियों में लिखने-पढ़ने की परंपरा तो होती नहीं, सो प्रेस-विज्ञप्ति आदि के लिए मुझे प्रकाशन मंत्री बना दिया. मुझे भी गाहे-बगाहे अखबारों में अपना नाम देखकर आनन्द आता थ. जल्दी ही स्वतंत्र और जनतांत्रिक की पोल खुल गयी. सब कुछ पर नियंत्रण करने वाला संघ का एक प्रचारक हरिमंगल प्रसाद त्रिपाठी (एह.एम.टी.) थे, जो न तो विद्यार्थी थे न् ही जनतांत्रिक. मेरी विडम्बना यह थी कि जब मैं विद्यार्थी परिषद में गया तब तक जाति-धर्म से ऊपर उठ कर प्रामाणिक नास्तिक बन गया था. स्संघी परभाषा में चर्त्र्वान नहीं था क्योंकि सिगरेट पीता था और लड़कियों से बात-चीत करता था उस समय लड़कियों से बात करना संघ में अनैतिक माना जाता था क्योंकि छुपी हुई बालकबाजी आम बात थी) और मेरा निजी सामाजीकरण समाजवादियों और प्रगतिशील साहित्यिक छात्रों (कृष्ण प्रताप सिंह, विभूति राय, देवी प्रसाद त्रिपाठी....) के साथ होता था.परिषद के दफ्तर में बैठ कर मूर्खतापूर्ण,फिरकापरस्ती की और लम्पटता की बातों से मोहभंग हो रहा था. परिषद के दफ्तर के नीचे कटरा रोड पर पी.पी.एह. की दूकान थी, वहाँ जाकर किताबें पढता था और एक-दो आने की प्राग्रेस प्रकाशन की किताबें होती थीं जो अच्छी लगतीं खरीद लेता था. बचपन से ही गरीबी और असमानता(खासकर जातीय असमानता) मुझे खलती थी. ब्राह्मणीय श्रेष्ठता के अंत पर अलग से कभी अपने अनुभव लिखूंगा) पी.पी.एह में बैठकर मैंने गोर्की, ब्रेख्त, प्रेमचंद, राहुल सान्क्रियायन, मार्क्स, लेनिन, थामस हार्डी, दोस्तोवस्की, फारेस्ट के उपन्यासों के अमृत राय के अनुवाद( अग्निदीक्षा, समरगाथा,आदिविद्रोही) एवं मार्क्स,एंगेल्स,लेनिन, माओ की रचनाएँ पढ़ना और खरीदना शुरू किया. मार्क्स की पहली रचना मैंने पर्स कम्यून और फिर मार्क्स एंगेल्स की कम्युनिस्ट मैनिफेस्टो पढ़ा और एक पत्रिका निकालते थे करीं प्रताप एवं अन्य मार्क्सवादी उसमें छपी कवितायें एवं गोष्ठियों की चर्चाओं एवं मित्रों से विमर्श आदि के चलते मैं विचारों से मार्क्सवादी बन गया और नास्तिक तो पहले से ही था. विद्यार्थी परिषद के राष्ट्रीय वार्षिक सम्मलेन में पर्चा बांटकर त्यागपत्र दिया कुछ और लोग भी साथ थे. काफी हंगामा हुआ थ. सी.पी.आई के अखबार जनयुग ने छापा था. १९७७ में जे.एन.यू. के सीपीआई के एक श्याम कश्यप ने वह खबर मुझी दिखाकर ब्लैक मेल करना चाहा तो मेरा जवाब था हममे से कोई लाल चम्मच मुंह में लेकर नहीं पैदा होता ज्यादातर लोग केशरिया या हरे चम्मच के साथ पैदा होते हैं.

राम-रावण

क्यों हमें बचपन से ही आग लगना सिखाया जाता है

राम को भगवान और रावण को राक्षस बनाया जाता है

अयोध्या को सम्हालने की बजाय सोने की लंका जलवाया जाता है

क्यों नहीं हकीकत साफ़ साफ़ बताया जाता है

बुश को राम और सद्दाम को रावण बताया जाता है

अपने राज-पाट के लिए इराक और अफगानिस्तान उजाडा जाता है

ओबामा के ड्रोन हमलों को बहादुरी बताया जाता है

बाली को छिप कर बेवजह मारने की याद दिलाया जाता है

कायराना हरकत को भगवानत्व बताया जाता है  

(जारी)

नारा

लोगों की शिकायत है कि मेरी कविता नारा क्यों है

मेरी शिकायत है कि सारी कवितायें नारा क्यों नहीं हैं

और सारे नारे क्यों कविता नहीं हैं?

The Neo-McCarthyism in India

The Specter of Naxalism: The Neo-McCarthyism in India

Ish Mishra

Contradiction of praxis has been the perennial contradiction of capitalism from the very outset.  It never says what it does and never does what it says; it promises the sky and plunders the earth. It appropriated power with the slogans of ‘equality; liberty; fraternity’, but its very existence, as aptly articulated by Adam smith, in terms of “individual profit making activities”, depends upon just the opposite principles. After the disintegration of the USSR, acting as a tyrant, “the largest democracy” of the world, USA, invades and plunders at will the other countries for the control over their oil and other natural resources and the strategic hegemony, but declares it to be a war against terrorism or humanitarian intervention for peoples’ liberation against tyranny; or to save the region from the dangers of the weapons of mass destruction, or from the nuclear threat. It is to be noted that it has the largest arsenal of the nuclear and other fatal weapons and is the only State that has the history of using lethal weapons with catastrophic effects. It pounded the atomic bombs --the fat man and the little boy – over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when the 2^nd World War was almost over, pending Japan’s formal surrender. Vietnam has not yet recovered from arbitrary bombings and carpeting of fatal cluster bombs.  If killing innocent people and destruction of social property is any criteria of terrorism, it has massacred/exterminated enormously larger number of innocent people and plundered their resources[i].

India, the “biggest democracy” of the world, constitutionally promises social justice through affirmative action of preferential treatment to Adivasis and other deprived and oppressed communities but in practice uproots and kills them for facilitating convenient, profitmaking and accumulation by monopoly giants. The firing by CRPF and CoBRA commandos in night of 28^th June 2012 at the Adivasis of   Rajpenta, Kottaguda and Sarkeguda, the adjacent villages in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, the gathered in an empty field to discuss the upcoming the bija pondum (seed sowing festival) and also to discuss how to help those without cattle and single women headed households, is yet another recurrence of Jalianwalan Bag[ii].  The Adivasis gathering was surrounded by over 100 CRPF personnel and CoBRA commandos in the cloudy night.  At around 10 PM they started firing at the meeting from all the directions killing 17 unarmed innocent people and injuring many. 16 of them including 6 teenagers 4 of them being children (aged 12-16 years) were killed on the spot. The 17^th victim Irpa Ramesh ran away during the firing and “made it to the safety of his house and stepped out in the dawn to survey the area. He was fired upon immediately and though hit in the leg, he managed to get back inside his home. CRPF men followed him and clobbered him to death in front of his wife and 3 children[iii]. According to a report, a 14 year old girl was raped before being killed.[iv]  It is to be noted that the houses in these villages were ransacked and burnt by Salwajudum. The Adivasis were terrorized to flee in the neighboring areas. They came back in 2009 and are still in the process of rebuilding their habitats[v]. Ever since the government has been harassing the villagers but this time they are determined to stay back and fight. Adivasis of many other villages of Chhattisgarh, due oppression and harassment including rape and murder at the hands of security Forces, have fled to the neighboring areas of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa[vi].

  The periodic massacre of Adivasis of Chhattisgarh, rapes and murders of girls and women, burning of their villages have become common affairs. On 5^th July 2011, a 16 year old Adivasi girl, Meena Khalko of Nawadih village in Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh, was gang raped and killed in the “encounter” by Police as a top Maoist Commander. Home Minister of Chhattisgarh in a press statement claimed that she “was a Naxal and had habitual sexual contact”[vii] (one of the clichéd justification of rape). When the reality of the “encounter” was found to be fake one, her parents were given a compensation of Rs.2 lakhs as compensation and no action against the erring cops or their political bosses[viii]. On May 22, 2012, four girls aged 14-18 years were picked up by the SPOs of Chhattisgarh Police, tortured and raped, for fear of their lives, they have not returned to their villages[ix]. If one clicks “rapes and murders by Chhattisgarh Police, one would find n number of entries of such heinous stories.

This episode of recent killings by uniformed personnel, is in the sequence and an integral part of the ongoing long term strategy of the governments to oust the Adivasis from their villages to pave the way for corporate giants with whom the central and state governments of mineral rich states have signed many MOUs, which they are not making public, despite repeated demand by the Democratic Rights organizations[x]. Immediately after the massacre in the name of “encounter” with Maoists, echoing the CRPF Chief of the operation, the Home Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram came out with their identity as hardcore Maoists in the same way as during the NDA regime, the then Home Minister, LK Advani would announce the names addresses of the assassinated Muslims and the Pakistani connections immediately after every so-called anti-terrorist encounter[xi].  When his own party members from Chhattisgarh started doubting the authenticity of encounter, Mr. Chidambaram revised the statement that though the killed Adivasis including children were Maoists, but he regrets if any innocent has been killed, absolving himself of blame, though CRPF and CoBRA come directly under the central home ministry[xii] in the same way as Barak Obama regrets the innocent deaths in in so-called anti-terrorist, arbitrary bombing the North-Western Frontier regions of Pakistan by unmanned, US Drone  war planes[xiii]. When it has become crystal clear that there were no Maoists, and it was a simple and plain slaughter of unarmed, poor Adivasis, the Raman government, which in its attempt to help the corporate interest has been callously negligent to the interest of the Adivasis, ordered an inquiry by a SDM in the matter. To hush up the things and mollify the agitated villagers over the death of their 17 kinsmen/women sent ration and other relief material to the village, Sarkeguda, the villagers refused to accept the help saying that if they are Naxalites, why government was giving them ration? They rebuked and sent back the officials[xiv].  Now as government is under attack from various quarters for the cold-blooded massacre of unarmed Adivasi villagers in the name of the encounter with Maoist, now, the government has come up with another justification that the Maoists use the common people as human shield and Security Forces should adopt more sophisticated methods to deal with the “menace” of Left Wing Extremism (LWE)[xv].   

 

 Where ever there is land movement in India, people are branded as Maoists and harassed. The land movements of Kalinganagar, Niyamgiri, Jagatsinghpur, Kashipur, Narayanpatna in Orissa are just few glaring examples.  On 2 January 2006 the Adivasi peasants’ protest rally against the land grab for Tata was fired at by Orissa Police killing 14 and injuring many[xvi]. The death toll by Police action has reached 16 in subsequent actions in the process of breaking the movement. The District magistrate and the Superintend of police, who conducted yet another Jaiyanwanlabag, were rewarded with promotions by the Orissa state government.[xvii] In the dawn of January 2, 2011, the day BBJM celebrates as the martyrdom day by holding rallies and public meeting, 4 villagers, including a 13 year old girl were gunned down in the name of encounter with Maoists and their bodies clandestinely cremated[xviii]. Former President of the Women’s Committee of the Bisthapan Birodhi Janmanch (BBJM) the organization heralding the movement, has been recently arrested under the charge being Maoist[xix]. The heroic on-going struggles of Adivasis and peasants notwithstanding the ongoing allurements, repression, terror and other tactics by the government and the corporate giants to break them[xx], reminds the so-called primitive accumulation and brutally crushed peasants’ resistances against land grab in England during “enclosure movements”. But much water has flowed down the Bay of Bengal, since then and history never repeats, it only echoes[xxi]. People have resolved that they would not flee in fear now and are ready to fight back the nexus mighty Indian state and the corporate giants[xxii].

Duality has been the integral part of capitalism and hence of its political instrument, of liberal democracy, since their respective inceptions itself. It provides rights to people under constitutions but as soon as they start mattering, these rights become null and void under ‘extra-ordinary’ laws like Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) made to deal with the ‘exceptional’ situations[xxiii].

 The first acknowledged organic intellectual, John Locke deduced the theory of natural right to property from natural right to life, and that one makes property by mixing one’s labour with nature’s gifts that commonly belong to all. The government is needed for protection of the natural rights, particularly right to property[xxiv]. But it began the journey not with its theological origin in some mythical antiquity as claimed by Adam Smith and his fellow liberal Classical economists[xxv], but by fraudulently expropriating the peasantry under enclosure movement and by uprooting the craftsmen; artisans; small entrepreneurs who had been earning their livelihood by mixing their labour with the gifts of nature and forcing them into wage slavery through bloody  legislations; plunder and massacre of the natives of Americans; “conquest and plunder of India  India, and the conversion of Africa into a preserve for the commercial hunting of black skins”[xxvi].

Human Rights activist and journalist Seema Azad and her husband Vishwavijay were arrested by UPSTF (Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force) of UP Police were arrested at Allahabad Railway station on 6July 2010. Seema had returned from World Book Fair in Delhi and Vishwavijay had gone to the station to receive her. On June 8, 2012, both were sentenced to life imprisonment and a penalty of Rs.70, 000 by a lower court in Allahabad under the various clauses of UAPA for allegedly waging war against the state. They have been alleged to be members of CPI (Maoist) and of involvement in illegal activities[xxvii]. Seema is Organizing Secretary of the human rights organization, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and editor of a bimonthly Dastak, which she used for exposing the corrupt nexus between sand mining mafia and the political leaders, the agony of people due to land grab drive by government for the Corporate Real estate and industrialists. Former student activists, Seema and Vishwavijay have been consistently raising their voice against human rights violation in eastern UP in general and in Allahabad and Kaushambi in particular, where politico-mafia police nexus is illegally mining sand, hoarding black money and exploiting and harassing workers[xxviii]. The charge is that they had objectionable literature, which proved that they were Maoists. The government has not defined what objectionable literature is. The lower court judge, seemingly bereft of vision and ignorant of Supreme Court judgements that say that nobody can be convicted for keeping/reading particular literature or even being member of a banned organization until he/she is found indulging in the violence or inciting the violence, accepted the Police story[xxix]. Supreme Court too did not take Suo-moto cognizance of the flagrant violation of its rulings by a lower court. The character of judiciary is the same as the character of the state.

Dr. Vinayak Sen’s case is well-known by now.  Owing to the pervasive, protracted campaign by prominent intellectuals and activists and his celebrity status as a popular health and rights activist, Dr. Vinayak Sen was eventually granted bail by the Supreme of India after spending two years in Jail under the extra-ordinary law, UAPA. Earlier the Supreme Court had rejected his bail application upholding the decisions of Chhattisgarh High Court. Dr. Sen is a physician by profession and the national Vice President of Peoples’ Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), involved with peoples’ constitutional rights against the state sponsored extra constitutional armed militia Salwa Judum. Extra constitutional laws are needed to silence such dissenting voices[xxx].

 The Adivasi, school teacher Soni Sori’s story too is very well known by now. The Police officer, Ankit Garg, who ordered the barbaric act of stuffing stones into her vagina, was honored with bravery award on the Republic Day^[xxxi]. In a meeting in Jadavpur University, when a student asked some inconvenient question on her well-advertised good-Governance,  Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal Chief Minister walked away in rage branding her and many other students and teachers as Maoists. It is said that she has ordered the intelligence agencies to keep vigilance over them[xxxii]

These are just the few subsets of the large set of the suppression of the voices of dissent and exposure of the corrupt anti-people policies of the comprador Indian state, under extra-ordinary laws for exceptional situations. This euphoria of Naxalism and suppression of dissent can be called Neo-McCarthyism[xxxiii].

Marx and Engels polemically wrote in 1948 in the Preface of the Communist manifesto that the specter of Communism was haunting the Europe. After 100 years that specter got transported to the USA. At the outset of the cold war, the US ruling classes and the corporate media created the scare of Communism and Soviet Union as national enemy in the same way as they are doing now by creating “terrorism”, a national fear of to consolidate their grip over political power and international hegemony[xxxiv]. In 1949, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy presented a list (Hollywood Black list)[xxxv] of people working in Government establishments; Research institutions; Film and theatre; University and school teachers; students and intellectuals and scientists of various fields, who were accused of being Communist or Communist sympathizers and hence Soviet agents[xxxvi].  To inquire into loyalty of such pro-Communist suspects the, Government constituted many Committees -- House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC); Senate Internal Security Committee; Senate Permanent subcommittee of on Investigation apart from Anti-Communist cell of FBI headed by Edgar Hoover. These Committees enquired into 179 cases during 1949-54[xxxvii]. The story of Scientist couple of Manhattan project fame, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were arrested in 1950, and despite a protracted campaign by Einstein and other intellectuals and Peace activists to save them, were   executed in 1953 by being forced to sit on the Sing-Sing chair[xxxviii]. Einstein could be saved by his celebrity status, but his activities were under vigilance, phones taped and letters censored by FBI. Edgar Hoover had a special file on him that could be availed by Fred Jerome who edited and published them in a book; Einstein File. The Communist Control Act, 1954 was passed in both the houses with a thumping majority without much debate. Einstein and other democratic intellectuals, film makers and writers were appealing to Americans to refuge to appear for loyalty test under these Draconian laws[xxxix].  In course of time, McCarthyism became synonym of prosecution and harassment of opponents with the accusation of sedition and spying for Soviet Union. Many private vigilance committees and private security agencies prospered on the behest of the government.

The raising the scare of the specter of Naxalism by the ruling elite of the country and arrests, prosecution, and imprisonment of civil rights activists and opponents   of Corporate-oriented anti-people policies under various draconian extra-ordinary laws, reminds the state of affairs in the USA in 1950s. This phase of American history is known as the Second Red Scare, the first being immediately after Russian Revolution. In 1918 it unsuccessfully tried to attack the USSR[xl].

The specter of Naxalism, (ignorant of the fact that CPI (Maoist) is just the one claimant of the legacies of Naxalbari peasants armed uprising against the Feudal oppression and exploitation that changed the agenda of India’s political discourse) is haunting the ruling classes of India in the same way as that of Communism was haunting the ruling classes of USA in 1950s. Today there is no ruling class party that does not raise the euphoria of Naxalism to divert the popular attention from deep rooted corruption; plunder of the peoples’ resources; exploitation and miseries of common people and to blunt the edge of the major contradiction between the imperialist global capitals[xli] and the Indian people. The arbitrary arrests under “extraordinary laws”, torture, manufactured confessions. Trials in special courts and convictions on charges of being Maoists/Maoist supporters resembles arrest, harassment and conviction of anybody without any substantial proof of sedition on charges of being a communist or communist supporters. Honorable Prime Minister of India, Man Mohan Singh or honorable home Chidambaram, whether speaking on deeply ingrained corruption in the government; issue of FDI in retail sector that would eat up millions of unemployment and would place  the consumers on the mercy of corporate giants; issue of anti-nuclear movements; suicide of peasants; plight of Adivasis; or any issue, they do not forget to raise the danger of Naxalism as the biggest danger for the country, without what they mean by Naxalism and how is it the biggest danger and they do more loudly after a pilgrimage to the USA. They accept that the CPI (Maoist) prospers due to faulty development of the tribal regions and declare to huge budgets to reach the development to the tribal regions in by enhancing the number of Security forces and equipping them with more sophisticated weapons[xlii].

On 15 June 1998, the then Home Minister, LK Advani, addressing the gathering of 4 chief Minister, termed the Naxalism as the “enemy of the Indian dream” and accused the human right activists and intellectuals of romanticizing them as the saviors of the poor and down trodden and exhorted them to mobilize the political parties; cultural and social organizations; intellectuals and media to uproot it[xliii]. On 13 April 2006, Present and then Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh told the gathering of the Chief Minister almost the same things expressing concern over the spread of Naxalism in over 160 districts of the country, despite the loss of ideological basis 40 years after its beginning and held uneven development and inequality responsible for their support base among the Adivasis and the down trodden[xliv]. After a month, in a meeting with the Chief Ministers of the 14 states Mr. Singh, placing the terrorism and Naxalism at par, emphasized on the “media management strategy” to “co-opt the media” to fight against it[xlv]. If we place the cases of Vinayak Sen; Seema Azad, Soni Sori; Gnanath Patra et al in this context, it becomes clear that the Indian state is scared of the strength of the words of the honest, democratic individuals; in the same way as the US governments feared   the might of democratic and progressive intellectuals, artists and film makers. It is reported that The US congress is contemplating legislation against those who expose the human rights violations[xlvi].

 This paper aims neither at a detailed analysis of McCarthyism or the inhuman cruelties of American state nor at appraisal of the ideological stand-points or actions of India’s Communist Parties including CPI (Maoist), though their demands through mediators in the recent activities focused on the release of innocent people interned in the false case under UAPA and other draconian laws and activists of democratic land movements like Narayan Patna[xlvii]. Recently, the Union Minister, Jairam Ramesh accepted publically that most of the Adivasis being subjected to inhuman living conditions and torture in the jails Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and other Maoist affected states are innocent people implicated in the false cases[xlviii]. This aims at showing that the parliamentary democracy with innate contradiction of theory and practice and duality of character remains democratic   and tolerates dissent as long as it does not seriously matter and resorts to undemocratic extra-ordinary laws to stop dissent from crossing the limits.

In fact, the “extraordinary”, undemocratic laws under “exceptional” conditions are innate into liberal democracy.  In England the stories of innocent people spending  years (1974-91) in prison on the basis of suspicion and manufactured confessions under Preventive Detention Act (PDA), 1974 is not in Guildford Four and Birmingham Six (The plot of the popular film: In the Name of Father) cases, is part of history now[xlix]. The stories of arrests and tortures in USA under various extra ordinary laws like PATRIOT in the name of countering terrorism, particularly after 9/11, have become the legends[l]. The “exceptional situation’ necessitating “extraordinary laws” seem to be innate in the democratic governance. In India thousands of people are languishing behind the bars for years on, without trial. The undemocratic, “extraordinary laws” under “exceptional situations ” in India’s democratic politics set aside not only “normal procedure of law but also the principles of justice and democracy” and are “legally and constitutionally recognized and justified as necessary exceptions to the rule of law”.[li]

The history of “extraordinary” laws in independent India can be traced to the year prior to the promulgation of the constitution of independent India to allow military use to suppress the Telangana peasants uprising, Madras suppression of Disturbances Act, 1948^[lii].  Immediately after promulgation of the Constitution, in 1950 Sardar Patel, the then home Minister of India, introduced the Preventive Detention Act (PDA) to deal with the Telangana peasants’ movement and other communist activities. “It was in fact the enunciation of a basic policy making what has been termed by Upendra Baxi as the Preventive Detention System (PDS), parallel yet integral component of the Criminal Justice system (CJS)”[liii] The Armed Forces Special powers Act(ASFSA), 1958 giving armed forces personnel unchecked and unaccountable authority and power was introduced to counter the Naga rebellion is in force in most of the North-East and in Kashmir for years. Iroma Sharmila’s hunger strike for its repel would make to Ginny’s book. So much has been written on various forums –virtual (internet social networking forums as well as print, Deeptipriya Mehrotra’s book on her vividly describes the horrid stories atrocities including rape and murder by Indian Army in northeast in general and in Manipur in particular. The necked protest of Manipuri women against the rape and murder of Manorama by army few years ago has become part of history[liv].

 The debates over such laws have been gaining ground ever since the emergency (1975-77) against the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) that intensified with Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), 1985 and Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), 2002. Professor Ujjwal Kumar Sigh with a meticulously researched data of enormous misuses of such laws, particularly use of POTA as communal weapon by the NDA ruled governments, takes on the arguments of ‘dilemma of democracy’ framework that considers such laws as ‘indispensable for democracy’ and the ‘Reason of State’ that puts forward the argument of survival of state and tears them to pieces[lv]. There were wide ranging protests and campaigns against POTA, the subsequent UPA government under Congress leadership repelled the POTA to replace it with another draconian law, NSA. After the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) 1967 has been amended into UAPA, 2008 that includes most of the draconian clauses of TADA and POTA both[lvi].

Thus the arrests, murders, rape, prosecution and conviction of innocent Adivasis and the prosecution and conviction and life sentences to Democratic Right activists and intellectuals by Indian state under Extra-ordinary laws in the name of dealing with Naxalism, which is considered to be the biggest danger to India. The AFPSA has claimed numerous lives in Jammu and Kashmir and north eastern states apart from horrifying stories of rape and torture. Many cases of fake encounters and other atrocities in J&K are lying with the home ministry for permission of trial[lvii].

After the emergency the extra-ordinary draconian laws e greatly debated and opposed. The fascist laws like MISA were repelled but were replaced by more draconian laws. The atrocities under TADA against many innocent people are part of history now.  TADA was eventually repelled after protracted protest great debate. Incorporating all the undemocratic draconian provisions of TADA, POTA was enacted which was generally used against the Muslim minorities for communal polarization of the country by NDA governments. When UPA government took over it repelled POTA but replaced by amended ‘Unlawful Activities Protection Act, 1967 (UAPA) that includes the draconian provisions of TADA and POTA both.[lviii]

The way McCarthyism was used to suppress the democratic thoughts in USA, we are witnessing in India, similar kind of Neo-McCarthyism in the name of specter of Naxalism. In defense of democracy and peoples’ right to life, all the democratic forces need to unite and mobilize against the neo-McCarthyism heralded by Man Mohan and Chidambaram

.

Notes/References

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[i] USA, as is well-known came into existence by exterminating the native Americans and its imperialistic invasions continue  beginning with the bombing in Japan ongoing occupation of Iraq and destructions in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama’s recent complaint against India for not allowing FDI in many sectors may be considered by the US establishment as acting against American interest, probably with the intent and prospect of invasion of India. 

[ii] On Sunday 13 April 1919, Brigadier General Dyer of the colonial Indian Army ordered firing on a peaceful meeting of 15,000 to 20,000 people (which included women, senior citizens and children) assembled to discuss the Draconian Rowlett Act 1919, in a walled public garden, Jallianwala Bagh in north the north Indian city, Amritsar. Dyer kept the firing up till the ammunition supply was almost exhausted for about ten minutes. 1,302 men, women and children were slaughtered and scores of them injured.  Dyer was, though, removed from duty and forced to retire without any punishment for ghastly massacre, he became a celebrated hero in Britain. Salman Rushdie’s novel, Midnight Children portrays the massacre from the perspective of a doctor in the crowd, saved from the gunfire by a well-timed sneeze. The massacre is depicted in Richard Attenborough’s film, Gandhi  depicts most of the details of the massacre as well as the subsequent inquiry by the Montague commission.

[iii] Hindu, 10 July 2012

[iv] Fact finding Report by CDRO (Coordination ofDemocratic Rights Organizations); Hindu, 8 July 2012

[v] Salwajudum was a private Army of Local People raised and sponsored by Chhattisgarh Government that was declared illegal by the Supreme Court but most of its members were reappointed as SPOs (Special Police Officers), who accompany the Police and CRPF in the forest villages, as they are familiar with the terrain. There have been many reports of their involvement in rapes and other crimes against the people.   

[vi] Times of India, November 13, 2009. Despite the Supreme Cut Order to rehabilitate the Adivasis of the villages destroyed by Police and Salwajudum but government did not move beyond the lip service. Himanshu Kumar a Ganhian activist motivated and    helped rebuilding some villages; the government demolished his Ashram and due to official and unofficial threat from government agencies, can’t live in Chhattisgarh;  Interview with him on 17 July, at a protest Dharna at Chhattisgarh. Bhavan,   New Delhi.

[vii] Hindu,  8 July 2011

[viii]  The Indian Express, 31 August  2011

[ix] Hindu, 29 May 2012

[x] Apart from declared MOUs with Tata, POSCO, Vedanta, Essar etc. whom the state and central governments have gifted peasants lands for mining, industrial plants and real estate and to clear the way for unhindered profit making, Central and state governments are using the state might to uproot the peasants, it is believed that Central and  state governments, particularly those of mineral rich states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa have singed a large number of MOUs with global Corporates, which are not being made public.

[xi] Quoted in the Editorial of Samkaleen Teesari Duniya, New Delhi, July 2012

[xii] Hindu 8 June 2012

[xiii] Whenever news of death of innocent people, children and sick (in attacks on schools and hospitals) US Drone attacks and NATO operations and stories of rape and torture become public,  US President Barak Obama regrets the innocent deaths and vows to continue with the attacks to defend the “American interest”.

[xiv] www.utube.com 12 July 2012

[xv]  Hindu, July 14, 2012

[xvi] Ish Mishra, “Heat and Dust on the Highway at Kalinganagar”, Economic &Political Weekly (10-16 March 2007), Mumbai

[xvii] ibid

[xviii]  Pratirodh Ka Swar,(February 2011) New Delhi.

[xix] Interview with the activists of BBJM on 2 January 2011

[xx]  Fake cases have been registered against the most of the activists of most  Of the land movements.  Abhay Sahoo, the President of POSCP Pratirodh  Sanghrsh Samiti(PPSS) heralding the anti-displacement movement against the land grab for the stell giant POSCO on 25^th November 2011 on some old false charges.

[xxi] Ish Mishra, op.cit

[xxii] Hindu, July 8 2012

[xxiii]  Singh, Ujjwal Kumar, The State. Democracy and Anti-terror laws in India(2007) Sage Publications

[xxiv] John Lock, Two Treatises of Government (1690). Chapter V, Second Treatise

xxv Adam Smith, Wealth of nations (1904), edited by Cannan, London Methuen & Co. Ltd.

[xxvi]. Karl Marx, Capital Vol.1 Section VIII(19779), Moscow, Progress Publishers,

[xxvii] Newspapers and leaflets

[xxviii] See the editorial of Samkalin Teesari Duniya (July 2012)

[xxix]  Hindu, 16 January 2011

[xxx] www.binayaksen.net

[xxxi] www.tehelka.com

[xxxii]  Times of India, 21  May 2012

[xxxiii] McCarthyism was practice in the USA in 1950s to level charges of disloyalty and treason after Senator  Joseph McCarthy 

[xxxiv] George Bush’s famous statement, while invading, Afghanistan that those who were not with him were with terrorists

[xxxv] See, e.g., Schwartz, Richard A. (1999) “How the Film and Television Black List Worked”. Florida International University. 

[xxxvi]  Morgan Ted, Reds: McCarthyism IN Twentieth Century America,(2004), . Random House Press

[xxxvii] Robert D. Dean, The Imperial Brotherhood: Gender and the Making of Cold War Foreign Policy , Univcersity of Massachusetts Press, 2001,p 65

xxxviii Fred, Jerome, Einstein File (2004), St. Martin’s Press

[xxxix]  ibid

[xl]  Stone Geoffrey (2004) Perilous Time: Free Speech in War Time from Sedition Act of 1778 to the War on Terrorism, W.W.Norton press

[xli] The Capital has become from international to global as it is no more geo-centric in terms of either its source or investment.

[xlii]  If one follows the newspaper reports of last few years, they keep periodically asserting about the LWE being the biggest threat to the country, but they do so more emphatically, whenever they return from visits to the US.

[xliii] Hindu, 16 June 1998

[xliv]   Hindu, 14 April 2006

[xlv] Hindu, 6 September 2006.

[xlvi] Hindu, 8 July 20012

[xlvii] In Orissa and elsewhere, where ever the peasants and Adivasis make significant protest and movements, false cases are imposed and arbitrary arrests are made, Narayan Patna is special case where it is not the anti-displacement movement, but the land reclaim movements in which the inhabitants, the  Adivasis are reclaiming their land from landlords, money lenders and liquor mafia. Most of the leading activists facing volley of cases are underground. Gan Nath patra, a veteran human rights activist, supporting the Narayan Patna movement was arrested in connection with some fabricated old case, when he had come to Bhubaneswar to meet some intellectuals connected with human rights movements in including Prof. Manoranjan  Mohnathy, former Professor of Delhi University

[xlviii]  J. Ramesh  quoted in the editorial of Samkaleen Teesri Duniya, July 2012

[xlix]  Simon Coward, Richard Down & Christopher Perry The Kaleidoscope British Independent Television Drama Research Guide 1955–2010, (2010), Kaleidoscope Publishing, 2nd edition. The Birmingham Six were six men sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 in England for the Birmingham bombing, 1974, after spending 17 years in jail, their convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal on 14 March 1991. The six men were later awarded compensation ranging from £840,000 to £1.2 million. Similarly 4 young man and women were sentenced to life imprisonment who were proved to be innocent after spending 15 years in jail (1974-89) for Guildford bombing in 1974; www.telegraph.co.uk 

[l] http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Gharib_torture_and_prisoner-abuse and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp

[li]  Singh, Ujjwal Kumar: op.cit. p.313

lii  Ish Mishra: “Asadhaaran kaanoon aur Jantantra: Bharat me Navmaikarhtivad”  Samkaleen Teesri Duniya, July 2012

[liii]  Quoted in Singh, Ujjwal Kumar: op.cit pp 33-34

[liv] Deepti Priya Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur (2009), Penguin, India 

[lv] Singh, Ujjwal Kumar: op.cit

[lvi] Ibid pp. 16-19

[lvii] Kashmir valley Under Occupation: Bullet versus stones, fact-finding report by Janhastakshep: campaign against Fascist desines, New delhi,2010

[lviii] Singh, Ujjwal Kumar, op.cit.